The Brothers Grim

"Ryder"

Battle scarred and rugged, Ryder stands a average height of 5'11" and has a no nonsense attitude although he has been known to show compassion to the weak and down trodden. Sometimes even as far as offering his services free of charge.

Description:

Bio:

“So you want to hear about the merc bands operating out of Barone, do you boy?” The old man wheezes whilst attempting a sip out of his cup of ale that the barkeep had just set upon the table. The boy, no more than 15, nods furiously and looks around to make sure that no one is eavesdropping, after a cursory glance there seems to be no one paying attention to a decrepit old man and his young companion. The old man chuckles “fine then boy, you’ve twisted my arm, I do know of a mercenary band that is rapidly climbing the ranks in the capital but for the life of me I can’t remember what they are called mutters to himself dammit what did those fools call themselves again?”. “AHA!” The old man grunts slamming his hand on the table almost knocking over his ale and setting the young boy off his chair in fright. “Those damn fools called themselves ‘the brothers grimm’, as if out of a fairytale they are to right all the wrongs of this world, good luck to them I say, they’ll need it” the man takes another sip. The kid leans tentatively forwards and in almost a whisper he asks “are there any heroes in this merc band?”. The old man abensently staring into the distance with his hand firmly grasped around his stein refocuses on the child and scoffs, “heroes? There aren’t any heroes in this country anymore, they all died in the wars against the Jotun and/or the celts. They say we have peace but all we have now is a council that ignores the plight of the common people and corrupt noblemen that do everything they can to prey on the hopeless.” The man thinks for a moment, “anyways I’m getting sidetracked, like I said there are no more heroes but I feel we will need them in the coming days, I’ve heard rumours of increasing attacks on independent towns that pay tribute to Barone, like our village, someone needs to step up to the mantle and set an example for the persons or creatures responsible”. The old man leans back in his chair hearing his bones creak as he does but in this moment he notices something akin to fear on the boys face, instinctively he reaches out and pats the boy on the back and comforts him with “that being said there are a few promising candidates in this so-called ‘brothers grimm’, one of them even you may eventually come to think of as hero.” The young boy looks in calculated optimism and the old man continues “He once was a bit of a bit of a handful like you in his younger years” the old man nudges the boy with his elbow as the young boy giggles “his name as we now know it is ‘ryder’, no one truly knows the mans identity but he seemed to be a very talented con-artist by all accounts, he had a way with people that almost made you trust him immediately, and that is your downfall, he was able to press information out of even the most stubborn lips and with this he was well known for negotiation abilities both for commerce and diplomacy. He rose to noble status quickly even though he wasn’t considered a noble due to ancestry, being born from the slums of Barone has its set backs and coming from common people and rising through the nobles can draw unwanted attention” the man pauses, as if he has to think about his next words carefully. " ‘Ryder’ in his years of peace and tranquility, after acquiring a decent amount of land and forming a minority house within the city, had his heart stolen by auburn haired slave girl, with one glance he had no doubt that this is the woman that he would spend the rest of his years with." The old man fakes a wretch and the young boy giggles “the day after setting eyes on the woman, he speaks to the slave trader that is responsible for her and supposedly made the slave trader an offer that only a mad man would refuse, it was later found out that ‘ryder’ nearly spent half his fortune on freeing her. After freeing the woman he then handed her his coin purse but asked only one thing of her in return, ‘the name of the fairest damsel that he’d ever meet?’ The woman let out a small giggle and formally introduced herself as daliadria, a chamber maid that had served countless nobles since the age of 10.” a lone distant voice could be heard shouting “ah that damned Firenzo” the old man says while stroking the small white goatee forming at his chin “I bet he’s caused a ruckus again, that damn drunk better not be causing any problems or I’ll have to deal with him.” At this the old man flex’s his nearly bone like arm to the young boy which incites a care free hearty laugh. “You always were a funny one, sir”. The old man continues, ignoring the child still recovering from his last fit of laughter “well moving on ‘Ryder’ later married Daliadria and after a few peaceful years bore a successor to their name, healthy baby girl named Kira”. “The years that followed were just that of ensuring that their family was well cared for and maintained, by the age of 12, Ryder and Daliadria’s daughter had already developed a presence in the noble society. Much in the same way as Ryder, she had developed a mastery for persuasion and she had many admirers, male and female alike, this caused outrage in the higher echelon of nobility.” The old man sighs and haggardly looks towards the young boy “are you sure you want to hear about this, I have other stories I can tell?” The boy considers this for a moment but slowly begins to nods as if to tell the man to continue. The old man sighs again "very well, it was shortly after Kira’s 12th nameday that Ryder had received word from one of his merchant fleets captains requesting that he rides for port Cariati as there are pressing matters that need to be dealt with. Ryder trusted the Captain, as he was an old friend by the name of Antonio del Maro, he had been with Ryder since the very beginning being one of the bravest captains he had known. Ryder set out for a full weeks ride to the port but not before taking his family for a close embrace and promising to be back as soon as he could and to bring back gifts both for his wife and daughter. With that he set off into the distance, his sights set on the horizon towards where the port lay. After 5 days travel, Ryder not bearing to be long from his family so pushing his horse to almost the brink, heads towards the harbour masters office.